Your Road
by Reefdamsel
Summary: Leo tries to talk to his son, Bennett, who is having second thoughts about attending Hogwarts


Ooh! I found this, wrote it several months ago. Leo, Bennett and Nicole are my creations, but Jeanette was created by my usual co-writer, LadyReason. The universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
  
Leo woke up early on Saturday, with the sun blossoming in through the large windows and his wife of almost 15 years by his side. Nuzzled between Leo and Jeanette were their two children, Nicole, fourteen years old, and Bennett, age eleven.  
"Hmm." Hearing Jeanette stir, Leo rolled over to watch her, tussling the blonde hair of his son at the same time. Opening her eyes, Jeanette met Leo's gaze and smiled. "We have been infiltrated."  
Leo grinned. "So I see. Don't tell me /two/ someone's had bad dreams last night."  
"Bennett did." Jeanette smiled, "Nicole didn't want to be left out."  
Leo chuckled. "That's my girl."  
The girl in question yawned and rolled over. "Quiet! Some of us are trying to sleep."  
Laughing, Leo pushed himself up. "That's the last time you stay up past your bedtime," he scolded lightly. "Come on, up with you! We have to go shopping today. Or did you all forget?"  
"Shopping!" Immediately, Nicole was up and racing out of the room. "Come on, Bennett, we're going to London!"  
The boy groaned and turned to peer at his mother. "Do we /have/ to?"  
Jeanette chuckled and brushed Bennett's hair away from his face. "Yes, we need to get your school things. Did you have another bad dream about school?"  
Bennett shrugged and sat up, climbing off the bed and heading out of the room before Leo stopped him. "Hold up, Bennett." When Bennett stopped, Leo met him at the door. "I think it's our turn to make breakfast." As Leo led the way out of the room and down the stairs, Bennett shot his mother a suffering look, but she smiled encouragingly and Bennett had no choice but to follow his father to the kitchen.  
In the kitchen, Leo was pulling out everything he needed to make pancakes. "What do you think?" He asked, "Blueberry, buttermilk or apple cinnamon?"  
Bennett shook his head, pulling out the milk, "Chocolate chip."  
Leo laughed, "Trying to put mum and Nicole in a good mood?" Reaching for the chips, the wizard nodded, "Good idea."  
For a few moments, they worked in silence, then Leo glanced up at his son, "Bennett, have you ever closed your eyes and imagined where you would be in ten years?"  
Bennett raised an eyebrow at his father. "Why?"  
Leo hesitated, "Well, because people should think about what they want, where they wish to be."  
"Why?" Bennett asked again. "We go where the world takes us."  
Leo sighed and stopped his mixing of the batter to look at his son. "Bennett..." the wizard hesitated to choose his words carefully. "What makes me different from your Uncle Tippens?"  
Bennett considered, then replied, "You know how to read?"  
Leo raised an eyebrow, "I repeat, what's the difference between Trevor and I?"  
Bennett gasped, looking shocked. "Uncle Trevor knows how to read? No /way/!"  
Leo sighed, reaching out to playfully cuff his son, but Bennett ducked away, having anticipated Leo's reaction, and the older wizard couldn't help but chuckle. "Very funny. /Yes/, your uncle can read. The more pretty pictures, the better." Leo winked and Bennett snickered. "Here, trade me." They switched and Bennett stirred the batter while Leo began to flip the pancakes. "My point is," Leo continued, "that even you would agree that Trevor and I are very different. But we were raised by the same parents in the same home. So, who dictated /our/ roads?"  
Bennett considered carefully, frowning when something occurred to him. "Trevor was sorted into Gryffindor, wasn't he?" When Leo nodded, Bennett frowned further. "I remember him telling Nicole that. But you and mum were in Ravenclaw. So, the sorting hat didn't put you in the same house as Trevor, even though Trevor had come first."  
"Trevor and Greggori, both," Leo agreed, nodding. Then he blinked, glancing back at his son and frowning. "Is /that/ what has you worried, Bennett? That you'll be sorted into a house because of Nicole?"  
Bennett sighed. "Well, everywhere we go, it always seems like people are always comparing me to my sister. They don't always expect me to fill her shoes or anything, but they are always comparing in the back of their heads, you know?"  
Leo chuckled. "Are you kidding? Remember that I came after two brothers. If I wasn't being told that it was so nice that I didn't get into the trouble like Trevor did, I was /never/ as charismatic as Greggori. And he and I were 6 years apart." Turning from the stove, Leo faced his son, his hands sliding into his pockets. "But, Bennett, the sorting hat doesn't compare. Its decision has nothing to do with your mum or I or your sister or even your uncles. It doesn't even have anything to do with your friends and where they end up. All that matters to the sorting hat is you. And where you want to go, who you are, is /your/ decision, no one else's."  
Bennett frowned, looking at his feet. "But Nicole said that to the Francois' family heritage was everything."  
Leo cocked his head, "The Francois' are a long line of wizards and witches. I don't know that they've ever had a muggle or muggle born among them. They are also a long line of Slytherin sorted children, unless I am mistaken. And personally, they aren't the people I would want to relate myself to." He paused, "Would you?"  
Bennett hesitated, then shook his head.  
With a small smile, Leo nodded, "One of the traits that the sorting hat looks for in the Slytherin house /is/ a pride of your family heritage. It is that pride that gives the Slytherin families their ambition. If I had to say there was one house that ran in the blood more than any other, it would be Slytherin. But even Slytherin families will have offspring that don't fit their mold and the sorting hat won't hesitate to put them in another house if it is where they belong. And that decision of where you belong is a matter of who /you/ want to be. It has nothing to do with what I, your mother, your sister or /anyone/ else wants for you.  
Bennett sighed and nodded. "Where do /you/ think I'll go?"  
Leo smiled softly, the affection clear in his eyes. "Bennett, you are every bit my son and I think you would make the perfect Ravenclaw. But /wherever/ you go is really up to you and your mother and I will be proud of you no matter what."  
Confused, Bennett looked up. "Up to me? I thought the hat chose?"  
Leo nodded, "It chooses based on what you want for yourself. Your hopes and dreams, hobbies and talents, opinions and ideals... those are the decisions that you and you alone make. The hat just takes all that and puts you on a road where you can be with others who have similar ambitions."  
Bennett grimaced. "That's not funny, dad. I'm not ambitious," but Leo sighed.  
"I use the term loosely. You do have ambitions, everyone does. We all have a vision of the world as we would like to see it. That's all I meant."  
Bennett remained quiet for a long time, but finally he nodded. "Then... there's only one problem."  
Leo raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"  
After taking a deep breath, Bennett looked up at his father and broke into a wicked, boyish grin. "You're burning the pancakes." 


End file.
